Current Graduate Student | Aspiring Leslie Knope

BuckeyeThon

This upcoming weekend is BuckeyeThon (BT) at The Ohio State University, a 24-hour dance marathon that marks the end of a yearlong fundraising campaign for Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s oncology and hematology floor. This will be my third year dancing at BT, and I am so excited to participate again. Dancing with all of my friends for 12 hours is a blast, sure, but it’s also watching an entire university come together around a cause that makes the event so special. The moment before the reveal, when everyone collectively intakes their breath and holds one another through tears and smiles has always ranked high on my list of top Ohio State experiences.

“We will never have a perfect world, but it’s not romantic or naive to work toward a better one.”
-Steven Pinker

This quote has stuck with me (since reading it on a Chipotle bag, go figure), and it perfectly describes why this moment at BuckeyeThon means so much. Every day I read the news, and I see tragedy littering its pages. A lot of adults comment on how today is different, and more dangerous, from when they were growing up. But this default setting, of fear and negativity, is easy. Instead, I try to operate on the idea that my generation can make a difference and that no matter what tragedy faces us, we can at least work to overcome it. As Pinker says, this isn’t naive, it’s a necessity and a reality. Things like BuckeyeThon, college students and university communities raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight cancer isn’t nothing. It overwhelms me with hope for what is to come for our families, our nation, and our world.

The link to my BT account and website is here if you wish to learn more. Additionally, I recommend watching the video summarizing the event that I’ve come to love so much: